Following weak leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open lower. US markets got off to a sluggish start yesterday with all three of the major benchmarks finishing the session slightly down. However, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are still hovering at the best levels on record. Trade tensions between the US and key partners weighed on stocks, with investors cautious as a fresh round of tariffs on Chinese goods is expected to take effect after September 5. Nike was one of the worst performers as a boycott against the company continues to gain traction. Facebook was also lower after analysts downgraded the social media giant to neutral from buy. Amazon stock briefly hit a $1 trillion market cap before falling off and leaving Apple as the only public company above the benchmark.
Local economic newsWe can look out for the second quarter GDP figures from the ABS
MarketsWall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 25,952, the S&P 500 lost 0.2 per cent to close at 2897 and the NASDAQ lost 0.2 per cent to close at 8091.
European markets closed lower : London’s FTSE dropped 0.6 per cent, Paris lost 1.3 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 1.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 1.1 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 18 points fall. Yesterday the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 18 points down at 6293.
Company newsInvesta Office Fund
(ASX:IOF) has received a takeover proposal from Canada's Oxford Properties Group. It comes as Investa is about to go ahead with a shareholder vote this week on the takeover bid from US giant Blackstone. Oxford has offered $5.50 cash for IOF securities a 15.15 cents premium to the Blackstone cash offer. Investa
(ASX:IOF) went into a trading halt yesterday upon receiving the bid, its shares last traded at $5.32
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying 71.82 US cents, 55.89 Pence Sterling, 80.06 Yen and 62.03 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a gain of 0.51 per cent
Gold haslost $9.60 to $US1197 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.37 to $US14.19 an ounce.
Oil has lost $0.43 to $US69.37 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 1 per cent to US$7370, Ethereum lost about 1.5 per cent to US$286, and Eos has fallen about 0.1 per cent to $6.51.
